Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Afghanistan: Females

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that women in Afghanistan will no longer be allowed to continue their university education.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government condemns the Taliban's decision to ban women from university. This is a further violation of the rights of Afghan women and will have damaging consequences, including for the Afghan economy. On 21 December, the Foreign Secretary co-signed a statement by foreign ministers and, on 22 December, I [Lord Ahmad] issued a statement saying we will not support any restoration of waivers to UN travel bans for sanctioned Taliban until women and girls are allowed to attend secondary school and university. With the international community, we will consider further action to persuade the Taliban to abandon their regressive measures.

Rainforests: Brazil

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage the government of Brazil to avoid the destruction of the Amazon forest.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: The UK is concerned about deforestation in the Amazon, which is having a detrimental impact on global climate and environmental conservation goals. The Government monitors trends of forest loss across the Amazon region, including Brazil, to inform our efforts.We have a long-established partnership with Brazil which aims to: 1) improve the capacity of governments to reduce deforestation; ii) incentivise forest protection through results-based payments that are re-invested to protect forests, and boost livelihoods; iii) enable business and communities to grow rural economies sustainable whilst protecting forests.The UK welcomes the commitment made by President Lula on his recent inauguration to end deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon under his mandate. We stand ready to work closely with the incoming administration in Brazil to achieve this, which the Prime Minister has discussed with President Lula.At COP26, international donors including the UK announced support of $12 billion to assist forest nations to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030. This included a UK commitment of £300 million to support efforts in the Amazon region. The UK continues to support work with indigenous communities across Brazil, who are central to forest conservation efforts, including through the launch of the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Forest Tenure Pledge which aims to help indigenous people secure their land rights.

Cabinet Office

Gambling: Suicide

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how many customer suicides have been reported by gambling operators in each of the past five years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.A response to the noble Lord’s Parliamentary Question of 21 December is attached. Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician The Rt Rev. The Lord Bishop of St AlbansHouse of LordsLondonSW1A 0PW 10 January 2023 Dear Lord Bishop,As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many customer suicides have been reported by gambling operators in each of the past five years (HL4504). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. As gambling operators do not contribute to this process, the ONS does not hold any information on suicides that have been reported by gambling operators.Yours sincerely,Professor Sir Ian DiamondUKSA Response to HL4504 (pdf, 105.7KB)